Scarlett Johansson To Play Maggie The Cat on Broadway

In Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Can she pull it off?

• Mediocre at best.

• I think so. She's has the sensuality and physicality to do it.

• I'd've preferred Ellen Paige.

• As a film actress, she's a blank slate that clever directors can use to good effect. That won't work on the stage, or in this role.

  Fail!

• Isn't Jeremy Renner supposed to play Brick?

• Yeah, R4? She's a Tony-winning stage actress for her performance in A View From The Bridge. Here's Brantley: "Mr. Schreiber is such a complete actor that he has often thrown productions into imbalance, highlighting the inadequacy of the performances around him. That is not a problem here. That the excellent stage veteran Ms. Hecht holds her own with Mr. Schreiber is no surprise. That Ms. Johansson does — with seeming effortlessness — is. In recent years Broadway’s stages have been littered with dim performances from bright screen stars, including Julia Roberts and Katie Holmes. Film actresses as famous as Ms. Johansson tend to create their own discomfort zones onstage, defined by the mixed expectations of fans and skeptics. I was definitely aware of that zone when I saw Keira Knightley in “The Misanthrope” in London recently. By comparison, Ms. Johansson melts into her character so thoroughly that her nimbus of celebrity disappears. Her Catherine is a girl on the cusp of womanhood, feeling her way down familiar paths that have suddenly been shrouded in unfamiliar shadows."

  http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/01/25/theater/reviews/25view.html%3Fpagewanted%3Dall

• Brantley is a starfucker and a terrible critic. And Johansson was bland as Catherine. Who cares if she won the tony, that doesn't mean anything. Zeta-Jones won a tony for best actress in a musical that same night for one of the most over-the-top, misconceived performances in recent times. Now there's almost no trace of the talent that Johansson displayed in Ghost World and Lost in Translation. A shame.

  Not%20Hunter%20Foster%20or%20his%20bitch%20wife

• Scarlett in a slip for most of the first act will sell tickets. And I thought Chris Pine was playing Brick. Who are Big Daddy and Big Mama?

• r7 Are you just referring to CZJ's Tony performance?

• The cast has been announced: Benjamin Walker, Debra Monk and Ciaran Hinds Will Join Scarlett Johansson in Broadway's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof By Adam Hetrick 20 Sep 2012 Benjamin Walker Photo by Joseph Marzullo/WENN After much casting speculation, producers of the upcoming Broadway revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof have announced that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson leading man Benjamin Walker will star as Brick opposite Tony Award winner Scarlett Johansson as Maggie in the Tennessee Williams drama that will begin previews Dec. 18 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. As previously reported by Playbill.com, Tony Award winner Rob Ashford will direct the revival produced by Tony Award winner Stuart Thompson. It will officially open Jan. 17, 2013. Recent reports indicated that several actors had been contending for the role of Brick, including Jeremy Renner and Chris Pine. Walker ("Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," "Flags of Our Fathers," Les Liaisons Dangereuses) has nabbed the choice role. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof will also feature Irish actor Ciaran Hinds ("Game of Thrones," "Harry Potter") as Big Daddy and Tony Award winner Debra Monk (Curtains, Redwood Curtain) as Big Mama. Thompson also produced the revival of A View From the Bridge, which featured Johansson in a Tony-winning performance as Catherine. Cat On a Hot Tin Roof will mark Ashford's directorial debut of  a non-musical production on Broadway. He is known for his work on How to Succeed in Business; Promises, Promises; as well as Evita; Curtains; and Thoroughly Modern Millie. Ashford previously staged A Streetcar Named Desire and Anna Christie at the Donmar Warehouse. According to producers, "Big Daddy Pollitt, the richest cotton planter in the Mississippi Delta, is about to celebrate his 65th birthday. He is distressed by the rocky relationship between his beloved son Brick, an aging football hero who has turned to drink, and his beautiful and feisty wife Maggie. As the hot summer evening unfolds, the veneer of Southern gentility slips away as unpleasant truths emerge and greed, lies and suppressed sexuality reach a boiling point." An Audience Rewards tickets presale will be offered Oct. 1-5. An on-sale date for the general public has not been announced. Visit catonahottinroofbroadway.com.

  Mia

• Photocall

  http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/2764631/scarlett-johansson-benjamin-walker-cat-on-a-hot-tin-roof-photo-call-02/